I'll be honest - no one taught me this. I was lucky to know what I wanted and that transpired into my job search. So when someone asked me how I landed in my current position, I thought hard about what I intuitively did everytime I looked for a job. But the results of every job search were so amazing that I have to share this with you. And if you think this doesn't apply to you if you're not looking for a job, first read this and then come back. If you're looking for a job, definitely read on.
Let's do a short exercise. It's Sunday evening. You know you've to go to work tomorrow morning. How do you feel? Do you feel happy and excited or do you dread the same grill restarting for another week? Do you have a smile on your face as you think about it or do you find yourself just reading through all this and telling yourself that dream jobs don't exist?
If you're still reading am guessing that there's something that you might want to change about your job, even if you like it very much indeed. So let's grab a pen and paper and let's go back to the Monday morning. What would your work need to be to get you excited? Does the office need to be beside a river with a pretty view? Or do you need a boss you get on with? Or may be a better set of junior analysts than you currently have? Note down all these things when you definitely need in your next job to be happy.
Now let's see if we can find the things in your work could "lose" to get you excited. Is it the percentage of writing code? Is it too much mid-management that's annoying? Is it too much fluff and lack of real work?
Do you have a better idea of what you're looking for?
You may or may not be know right away without talking to more people, but this is the starting point for job searching mindfully. This is what I do most days at work - look at what I like, and want to continue doing. What I dislike and want to stop doing. When I talk to other people about their work, I wonder if I would like parts of their job and dig deeper. And based on that I look to change my current job. Using this strategy, you can literally change your current job to the job you want, even without changing jobs and companies. Tweak, tweak, tweak and done. Job "searching" mindfully in my opinion makes your current job more enjoyable and makes you feel like you're in charge of your career.
Now I want to listen to you- have you been job searching mindfully all this while?
